This morning, as the sun rises on New Orleans, we'll begin to learn the true devastation caused by Hurricane Ida.
Already, the town is mourning the loss of one of its most historic and beloved sites: The Karnofsky pawn shop.
The Karnofsky were a Jewish family that immigrated to New Orleans, and employed a young Louis Armstrong in the 1910s and nurtured his love for music.
John McCusker, a retired journalist and author who championed the push for the site to be preserved and restored, told WWL in New Orleans, "Louis said it was the Karnofskys that instilled the love of singing in his heart. The family would feed him and they would eat dinner together and they would sing to get the children to sleep."
The Karnofskys loaned Armstrong the money for his first cornet and later turned their tailor shop into New Orleans' first jazz record store.
Unfortunately, Hurricane Ida reduced the historic building into a pile of bricks.
There were many attempts to restore the building and designate it a historic landmark, including the latest in 2019, though those attempts never got off the ground.